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Congress mandated that the government establish a program
to procure COTS items through e-commerce portals without
creating a government-unique portal. The purpose of shifting
to commercial e-commerce is to expedite procurement, enable
market research, enhance competition and ensure reasonable
pricing.
Given the congressional mandate and how advanced industry is
in regard to supporting government requirements, commanders
could start purchasing from a commercial marketplace within
six months of proposal. The Amazon Business portal is working
to become fully FAR-compliant and has done so at no cost to
the government.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
As previously mentioned, there is no need to write a contract
for COTS items already available on the marketplace. The con-
tract with Amazon to use its business portal would instead focus
on configuring an application with Amazon’s existing portal to
meet our government needs. Even with all that Amazon already
has accomplished, there is still work to be done, but most of it is
just software development.
First, we need credentialing. The most sensible thing for DOD
would be to use the almost-ubiquitous Common Access Card
(CAC). Each card has a unique number and certificates. Those
could be tied together with a database to control purchasing per-
missions, tying users to commands, budgets, accounts and so
forth, much as CACs identify us in nearly everything else we
do online.
Next, the platform would have to comply with the AbilityOne
Program, which employs people who are blind or significantly
disabled. Since Amazon already has certified small disadvan-
taged business vendors, it would need to ensure that AbilityOne
vendors are selling on Amazon Business as well. There also would
need to be a way to ensure that vendors have the correct certifi-
cation to classify themselves as such. I am by no means asking
Amazon to certify all its vendors—with hundreds of millions of
vendors that would be an impossible task. What needs to be in
COMPARISON SHOPPING
Xerox printer cartridges were cheaper on Amazon than through the GSA’s Ad-
vantage portal at the time of writing. Many more vendors sell through commercial
online marketplaces, like those run by Staples and Walmart, so prices are some-
times lower. (SOURCE: the author. Images courtesy of Amazon.com Inc. and GSA)
42 Army AL&T Magazine
April-June 2018
THE 'ARMYZON' EQUATION